SOME SACRIFICE

MAGA Senator Roasted After Wild Post-Election Fasting Plea

It didn’t take long for Sen. Josh Hawley to receive feedback on his bizarre demand.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is being ridiculed for urging fellow Christians to observe a 60-minute fast after Republicans’ massive midterm losses.

Hawley, 46, was not on the ballot in the midterms, and so avoided being one of the many Republican officeholders who lost their seats. But the lawmaker still expressed alarm at voters sending dozens of new Democratic faces to Washington.

“🚨What happened last Tuesday was shocking and historic. It calls for a historic response,” the evangelical Presbyterian wrote on X. “Christians need to gather and seek the Lord. I’m going to host a time of fasting and prayer for the nation on Tuesday, December 15 from 12 to 1 at the Capitol. Meet me there!”

In allotting 60 minutes—the length of an NFL game—for a fast, Hawley set himself up for mockery, since religious fasts typically last for several hours.

“Christ fasted for 40 days and nights in the desert. Josh Hawley and MAGA will only give our nation an hour,” Christopher Hale, a Catholic and former Obama White House staffer, wrote on X, referring to Lent.

“A whole hour?” former Obama administration National Security Council staffer Tommy Vietor replied to Hawley.

“So... you’re fasting for an hour? What an incredible display of your Christian devotion,” another user wrote sarcastically.

“In solidarity, we will also wait until 1 PM to have lunch,” pro-Democratic group Majority Democrats added.

One of Hawley’s colleagues also weighed in.

Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat, quoted a Bible verse back to him.

“This Senator voted to force children and the elderly to fast involuntarily by cutting food assistance. But, for one hour, he can see how millions of Americans struggle every day in the Republican economy,” she wrote. “‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink… whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ - Matthew 25:35."

Writer Charlotte Clymer mentioned a verse from the same book: “‘And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.’-- Matthew 6:5.”

Former Trump White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews offered a jab.

“Sending Josh Hawley thoughts and prayers,” she wrote. “I’m told that’s an adequate response to a massacre.”

Hawley’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Hawley’s prayer and fasting event next month will take place a few weeks before two new Democrats with notable religious backgrounds join him in the Senate: Texas’ James Talarico and Kansas’ Adam Hamilton.

Talarico, a Presbyterian, obtained a Master of Arts in theological studies last year, while Hamilton is senior pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.

Hawley has been known to call for prayer before elections as well as after. Earlier this month, he participated in a 72-hour session in support of Missouri legislation that would have restricted abortion.

“Would you help us, Lord, to ask, Lord, how can we serve you in this hour?” he said. “Lord, would you make us worthy of this hour? Lord, would you give us joy as we proclaim your name? In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.”

Missourians, however, rejected the legislation.

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